Celestia
by Ekai Ungson
Summary: It's just astronomy.... really it is.... ^-^


Celestia  
  
an ExT by Ekai Ungson  
  
DISCLAIMER: Card Captor Sakura and all related characters belong to CLAMP.  
  
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She looked intent on the astronomy book she was slaving over. He chuckled. She'd been at it for five hours, no break. He wondered how many factoids she'd already stored in her head.  
  
Her black hair fell like a waterfall along the sides of her face, shadowing her pale features. It made her look so much more mysterious, he mused. Her violet eyes were concentrating on the page of her book, as if absorbing the words into her memory. Her fingers were tapping on the table unconsciously. Her face rested on her palm, propped up with an elbow.  
  
"Psst, Eriol-kun."  
  
He blinked and looked up to see dancing green eyes in an expression of barely-contained amusement. He tried to scowl. He failed.  
  
He was passed a folded piece of paper. He looked at it conspicuously before unfolding it and reading its contents. And there it said, plainly in black ink, in Kinomoto Sakura's handwriting, "You're supposed to be studying, Eriol-kun, and not staring lovelornly at my otomodachi-san."  
  
He looked up at the note-sender and cast her what he hoped to be a sufficient look of death. That before blushing to the tips of his blue hair. But Sakura only brushed THAT off with a soft giggle. He took a pen instead and began to write.  
  
"For your information, I already know enough about the whole galaxy that I don't need to study."  
  
He then passed the paper back.  
  
He watched green eyes turn mischievous as she scanned his words. Then she took her pen and wrote something down before passing the paper over again.  
  
"Oh, so you DO admit that you ARE staring lovelornly at Tomoyo-chan."  
  
He scoffed. "Staring, yes. Lovelornly, no. And really, Sakura-san. Is there such a word as 'lovelornly'?"  
  
"Shut up about my grammar and pay attention. Of COURSE you're not lovelorn, Eriol-kun. You look like a scared little boy. Why don't you talk to her?"  
  
"I'm not scared, little, or a boy. And yeah. Maybe I will talk to Tomoyo- san."  
  
"I'd love to see you try."  
  
He cast his heir one long, speculative look before turning to the raven- haired girl beside him, still bent on her astronomy.  
  
He considers using magic to read her mind. He then heard a soft "Nuh-uh, Eriol-kun" from Sakura and he stopped immediately. All right. He was going to play this Sakura's way. The manual way. The hard way.  
  
How in the world was he going to engage the girl in conversation? Not that he wasn't a brilliant conversationalist. Sakura had been so easy to entice before.  
  
But Tomoyo was a different ball game entirely.  
  
He stared at the piece of paper he'd been passing around with Sakura, tucked securely between the pages of his book and an idea came to him.  
  
He tore out a piece of paper from his binder and wrote something down. Then he passed it over to the still-silent Tomoyo.  
  
Her head turned slightly as she took the note. Then she opened it.  
  
"How are you doing over there?"  
  
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She was sincerely lonely.  
  
For the past five hours she'd been staring listlessly at her book, eyes open, seeing nothing. Must be the heat getting to her.  
  
She hated long memorizations, and she hated finals even more, because then she would have to study the new stuff and review the old stuff they'd learned all year. If she didn't pass this test, she would surely fail, and so she dragged Sakura, Syaoran, and Eriol along to the library to study. So far she was not succeeding in the original plan.  
  
She picked up a pen and wrote. "Not good. I can't concentrate. I keep trying, but I can't."  
  
He took the note and smiled slightly as he read it and then wrote something in reply.  
  
"You won't learn stars by looking at them in books."  
  
He passed it back.  
  
Her eyes narrowed as she wrote down her answer. "What do you propose, then?"  
  
His heart stopped beating for a second. This was a golden opportunity. Platinum, even. He sneaked a glance at Sakura, who, by some miracle of Kami, knew exactly what he was planning. Her look plainly said "Go for it!". Then he peered at Tomoyo, who was still waiting for an answer.  
  
He took a deep breath, and with trembling hand he wrote;  
  
"The only way to learn astronomy is to see it, not in a book, but through a telescope lens."  
  
She read the words once, twice. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean.. would you like to come to my house at around seven? I have a telescope in the library. You'll learn faster there, trust me."  
  
She contemplated this.  
  
He prayed.  
  
Then, as he held his breath, she wrote something down. Something very short. She folded the paper and passed it back.  
  
He was almost afraid to open it. It could've been that she wrote "Hai". But it could easily also been "Iie".  
  
He looked at Sakura again. She nodded.  
  
He opened the note.  
  
"Okay."  
  
It took all of his willpower not to shout in victory in the silence of the library.  
  
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He began running through the manor in a way that could be defined "crazy". He was cleaning here, cooking there, straightening things here, dusting there, all to the ill-supressed laughter of his guardians.  
  
"If you're not going to help me, I suggest you get out of this house NOW!" Eriol yelled later.  
  
His guardians shut up.  
  
The doorbell went off.  
  
His eyes widened. "What? She's already here? What time is it?"  
  
"It's six fifty-nine, Eriol-sama," Ruby Moon stated.  
  
"I like that in a girl. Very punctual. I do hope you have plans for her?" Spinel Sun added.  
  
Eriol turned to the cat menacingly. "Shut. Up."  
  
Ruby Moon floated out of the room. "I'm going to get Tomoooyooo-saaann..."  
  
Eriol went running to the nearest mirror and began checking his whole overall appearance.  
  
"You look perfectly fine, Master," Spinel said. "What's wrong with you isn't in your physical appearance anyway."  
  
"What are you implying, Spinel Sun?"  
  
Spinel turned to him innocently. "Who? Me?"  
  
"Why you...."  
  
"Konban wa."  
  
Eriol looked up from his position from strangling Spinel and saw Tomoyo in the doorway with a smiling Ruby Moon.  
  
"Very smooth, O Great Valentino," Spinel mumbled.  
  
"Shut UP, Spinel, or I swear I WILL turn you into a color as yellow as Cerberus."  
  
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"Shall we begin?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
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The telescope sat prominently in the middle of the veranda in the library wing. He looked up at the sky, dark as ebony, making the stars even clearer to see. A perfect night to go stargazing.  
  
A perfect night whatever happened because he was here with a most extraordinary girl.  
  
He turned to her.  
  
She smiled.  
  
He was rendered immobile for a second before he regained control of his senses.  
  
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"How in the world do they see patterns of people and animals up there?" Tomoyo asked. "All I can see is a bunch of stars, no shape, no lines, nothing."  
  
"Imagination," Eriol replied.  
  
"Imagination?" she repeated.  
  
"Yes," he answered. "See, you have to learn how to take things beyond surface measure. That is when you will understand."  
  
"I still fail to see the point."  
  
"Do you know how to dream?"  
  
She started. She didn't anticipate that. "I don't think any known living human being doesn't know how to dream."  
  
"What do you dream about?"  
  
She paused. "Living peacefully... being healthy, happy, sustaining my mother's name... that kind of stuff."  
  
He smirked. "Those are too practical. Don't you ever dream of being able to fly, do magic, float--"  
  
"Dreams like that are for children."  
  
He turned to her. "Then do that. Look at the stars as a child would."  
  
She stared at him for a second before looking back into the telescope. This time she followed his advice.  
  
Imagine.  
  
She opened her eyes, and at the same time, tried to open her heart, as a child would.  
  
And she saw. She saw patterns and lines and shapes... she saw winged horses, big bears, little bears, she saw crosses and mountains... she saw everything.  
  
She sat, awed. "That's it? That's how simple it is?"  
  
He shrugged. "You closed your heart, that's why you couldn't see."  
  
She turned to him. "Poetic."  
  
"It's true."  
  
And yes, even though she hated to admit that. It WAS true.  
  
He looked at her. "Why?"  
  
She stiffened. Should she pour it out? All her heartache, all her pain? She never let anyone see that side of her before. The weak side. Everyone thought of her as the indomitable Tomoyo. With the indomitable will.  
  
But with Eriol, she felt she could. She felt she could fly, dream, wish, talk. She felt she could tell him, and he would listen, and make her be all right.  
  
She didn't know why she felt like that, but she did nonetheless.  
  
"Would you listen?" she asked tentatively.  
  
He would.  
  
She told him why. Why she closed her heart, refused to dream.  
  
She didn't want to be swept away by dreamers, and then left on the brink all alone and lonely. Dreamers always had a tendency to leave and follow their dreams, but never their hearts. Dreamers left her alone, and she didn't want to be alone.  
  
Didn't want to be hurt.  
  
So she tied herself to earth, refusing to fly, refusing to stretch her wings. It was more practical. It was safer. It was better.  
  
He listened, and then he spoke.  
  
Only one sentence, but to her it spoke volumes.  
  
"Now I'm here; Now you can dream."  
  
She stared up at him.  
  
"See those stars? They symbolize every single dream on earth by every living being. Most of them you cannot see from here, but they're out there. Countless," he then turned to her. "As long as there are stars in that sky, do not give up on dreaming. And do not be afraid to fall. I'll catch you."  
  
I'll catch you.  
  
--End-- 


End file.
